


The Abyss Gazes

by NopeImAPanda



Series: Play the Monster [1]
Category: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
Genre: Emrys and Merlin as two separate people, Emrys is a slightly evil woman, Emrys is a woman, Emrys raises Arthur, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-10 15:35:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11129709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NopeImAPanda/pseuds/NopeImAPanda
Summary: Vortigern knows he needs the power of Excalibur to cement his rule. As his nephew drifts away, he comes up with a plan. To both squash any chance of future rebellion, and to have the power he needs.





	The Abyss Gazes

**Author's Note:**

> King Arthur was amazing, no matter what any critics say. It was amazing and I hope that it can somehow muster enough supports to get the sequels that were planned. Until then, I’ll be over here writing fanfiction. I started writing this after I started to wonder what might have happened if Vortigern wanted to raise Arthur for his own means. Emrys being a woman (and a distinct person) was just a concept that sort of emerged as I kept writing. This is kind of a strange beast of a story, so have fun!

_Vortigern makes a plan._

_As the sword buries itself into his brother’s back and the child starts to drift away, he formulates a strategy._

_When two of his soldiers run to meet him he points at the lake._

“Get me that sword.”

_They nod and he ignores them._

_He storms off, finds a horse and half a day’s ride away he finds it. He jumps off his horse and trudges into the water so he can grab the rope and pull the boat to shore. He stares down at the boy and the child looks back up._

“Let’s get you someplace safe?”

_He plasters on a comforting smile and gently lifts the boy into his arms. He climbs back on his horse and begins to ride._

_He’s not far from the castle when he reaches the cave, hidden behind trees, vines, and all other manner of flora._

_A woman stands at the entrance, gold eyes baring down on him with indignant rage._

_He jumps off his horse and hands the child to her._

_She blinks._

_After a moment she takes the child in her arms and continues to glare at him._

“I need to be able to use the power of Excalibur. I need a weapon.”

_She blinks then nods. She disappears behind the curtain of plants and he rides back to his castle._

_Vortigern makes a plan, and it must work._

* * *

 

_She watches the boy who watches her._

_She watches the boy who carefully waddles around her home, staring at rocks and plants, and furniture._

_She watches the boy who looks at the outside world with both wonder and calm._

_She watches the boy who cries in his sleep and suffers from night terrors._

_She watches the boy until she can no longer_ just watch _._

_He’s still young when she presses a dagger into his hand and snarls that he will learn to fight._

_So then she watches as he learns._

_Watches as he practices with dagger, sword, arrow, fist._

_Watches as he begins to grow, big and strong, his hands calloused but quick, and his eyes hard and sharper._

_Watches as he goes from boy to something else._

_But in those silent moments, when the boy jerks from his sleep, or his eyes linger on some unforeseen sadness, she does more than watch._

_She brushes the tears from his eyes and hums soothing words._

_She rakes her hand through his hair until he drifts back into oblivion and she is left clenching her fists in rage._

_She listens when on his tenth birthday, he asks her why everything is happening._

_She cuffs him then shoves a sword into his hands._

_She watches that boy, until she can no longer._

* * *

 

_He becomes a man in his own way._

_She can see that, and feel it, and knows it._

_She’s picking herbs as she observes him practice with his sword in a diligent, fierce way she finds brings her pride._

_She doesn’t know what kind of weapon Vortigern wanted._

_Whether it was someone as precise and collected as himself, or it was this: the boy who was a solid mass of barely-controlled rage and unstoppable ferocity._

_He is a host of power, and she wonders what kind of weapon he will be._

_She counts his birthdays and knows it will not be long until she finds out._

* * *

 

_On his eighteenth birthday, Vortigern returns._

_The boy glances at her, checking that this stranger is not an enemy._

“So this is the boy?”

_Vortigern eyes him but all of his attention is on her._

_She nods and her eyes are sharp as flint._

“You did better than I expected. I need him now.”

_Vortigern stares at her and the boy frowns._

_She walked over to him, a sword still held loosely in his hand and nods._

_She presses her hand to his cheek, trying to memorize something in his eyes she still wonders if  he’ll lose._

Go _, her eyes say and in the end he grabs his bags and walks over to the usurper._

_He climbs onto his own horse and as they ride away, she watches._

_She wonders what kind of weapon he’ll be._

_She wonders what kind of king he would have been._

* * *

 

_The Mage enters the cave with no warning._

_The two women stare at each other until an agreement is reached._

_The Mage sits down and the other continues her work._

“He has become infamous, though few know who he is. He could still be king.”

_The Mage cannot see the way the other woman’s eyes harden._

_She shakes her head and knows it cannot be._

_Knows the Mage would understand it too if she had been the one to see his eyes change with so much death._

He deserves more, _her eyes say and the Mage glowers._

“I did not know it was your choice to make.”

_She doesn’t answer except to turn her back._

_The Mage huffs and leaves and the other clenches her fist._

_The Mage was wrong, she knows._

_It was her choice the second she took him into her arms._

* * *

 

_She is standing on a mountain as they begin their assault._

_They are trying to kill the usurper and hopefully, rid their born king of his control._

_She knows they will fail._

_When their born king emerges and his eyes are an unnatural blue, they do not hold their weapons in defense until it is too late._

_The Mage turns to her and begs for help._

_They will all die it seems, at the hand of their born king._

_Later, she cries at the weapon he has become._

* * *

 

 _Vortigern arrives a few weeks later, and_ he _is at his side._

_The weapon regards her, but there is nothing of what she remembered in his eyes._

“It seems you're the last threat to my reign.”

_They stare at each other for a long moment._

Go ahead _, her eyes challenge, and Vortigern grins._

_The weapon slides from his saddle and comes to meet her._

_She closes her eyes and remembers something she doesn’t need to wonder if it’s lost._

_Excalibur is raised and her eyes come to meet his._

_Her hand has moved before both of his can meet at the handle._

_Vortigern roars in rage but she does not care._

_Not as she cradles the boy’s head in her lap and cries for the king he will never be._

* * *

 

_In the end, Vortigern meets his doom at the hands of the thing he helped create._

_The Mage watches in disbelief and the other woman clenches her fist._

_Those who once fought for the born king now do so with caution, but when Vortigern falls at the weapon’s hands, they rally and battle._

_The people are shocked and confused, but there is hope._

_She wonders if it will last, and hopes that it does._

_In the end, she grasps the Mage’s hands in her own and looks at a king._

He needs more than most can give _, her eyes say, and the Mage understands._

_Guinevere becomes Queen of England, for a reason a handful know and only two grasp._

_When a crown is placed on their heads and the people rejoice, she watches._

_She watched a boy become a man, and a man become a weapon, and a weapon become a king._

* * *

 

_She clenches her fist and watches Vortigern burn._

_He came to her, a plot formed in his brain that he believed led to a future guaranteed._

_Emrys frowns at the fire._

_He should have known._

_You do not give a woman a child._

_And you do not expect a mother to raise a weapon._

_Emrys smirks through the flames as Arthur grips Gwen’s hand in his own._

_You should expect her to raise a king._

**Author's Note:**

> I don't feel entirely done with this storyline. If you think this needs some more or if I should visit this AU! again, drop a comment, give some kudos, subscribe!


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